Young professionals add zing to Lanka’s public sector
After the triumph against the joint opposition’s no-confidence motion, Sri Lanka’s beleaguered government has been advised to infuse young blood into the senior public bureaucratic segment with the aim of accelerating rural and urban development activities, a top official told the Business Times.
The country’s second tier public bureaucratic workforce needs a fresh impetus to continue the government’s development activities, carry out efficient service for the people, and engage in effective policy formulation activities; expeditiously, he said.
The second tier public sector officials who would soon take up the key responsibilities as heads of ministries and public institutions – with many incumbents due to retire soon – were lagging behind their present superiors in competency, communication skills and decision-making ability as well as knowledge in administrative procedures, an in-house official survey revealed.
Without a pipeline of young talent, the government risks falling behind in an increasingly digital world, a top level human resource survey report highlighted.
The government should immediately appoint a new generation of young professionals both in the public and private sectors for filling gaps and supplementing the career based bureaucracy in the public sector, several senior government officials told the Business Times.
They said: “This matter was brought to the notice of the prime minister during their discussions with him on immediate reforms that should be made in the public administration by replacing lethargic and old guards of red tape.”
Young professionals should be inducted to supplement the work of career bureaucrats, a senior cabinet minister said adding that they should not be confined to the junior executive level, but to the top-level as officers on special duty or policy specialists.
A competency framework has been developed by the National Human Resources Development Council of Sri Lanka to be used for the public sector to define the skills, behaviours and attitudes that officers need to perform in their roles effectively.
The main objective of the framework is to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and the quality of public sector delivery.
The need of the hour is to improve quality of service delivery in the public sector and therefore, it is necessary to develop and groom young professionals with the required skills, knowledge and attitude to run public sector organisations, one official added.
| 45-point short term plan proposed to accelerate rural development | |
| A 45-point short term strategic plan has been proposed to accelerate rural development within the next 18 months, a top cabinet minister said. This development process will be covering social, economic and environmental fields specially targeting the rural masses, Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Patali Champika Ranawaka revealed to the Business Times. He has proposed to allocate at least a sum of Rs.10 million each to 6000 electoral units Pradeshiya sabhas towards strengthening development in rural areas. According to this development plan, a suggestion has been made to grant a monthly allowance of Rs.5000 to low income families for three years by restructuring the Samurdhi poverty alleviation scheme. Financial and other assistance will be provided to 10,000 new entrepreneurs with public investment in accordance with the new plan, he disclosed. The government has to go for radical reforms handing over the responsibilities to young MPs replacing the old guard, he said adding that senior ministers have failed to perform their tasks and as a result the country was on the verge of collapsing. |